The case against the Cavs making any trades

The Cleveland Cavaliers shouldn’t make any trades and here’s why.

The idea of the Cleveland Cavaliers making a trade has been one met with jubilee, as the thought of the Cavaliers fielding a team without LeBron James and trying to win a championship without him seems ludicrous to many.

Especially with team owner Dan Gilbert leading a second-year general manager in Koby Altman and a third-year head coach in Tyronn Lue, three men who have faced criticism like few others in their positions — whether fair or not.

It would seem like the outside consensus is that these three men are unfit for their jobs and, without James, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a lottery-bound team who may as well tank to assure that they receive a top-10 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft or clear salary to chase a max free agent next offseason.

However, the fundamental flaw in that thinking is (a) forgetting that the main player left behind had to adjust his playing style and sacrifice his numbers to thrive beside James and (b) thinking there isn’t a good enough mix of youth, talent and veteran experience for the Cavs to develop into a bonafide contender.

The gift and the curse of playing with the best point-forward of all-time, the locomotive known simply as LeBron, is the barren wastelands his empires become when he selects a new kingdom.

However, like the Miami Heat, there’s a hope for the Cavs to be a “team to watch” in the playoffs should they retain their veteran talent and develop their young guys.

Let’s look at the Cavaliers’ depth chart and see what roster changes need to be made, if any (these are my projections, nothing official):

PG: Collin Sexton — George Hill

SG: Rodney Hood* — Jordan Clarkson

SF: Cedi Osman — J.R. Smith

PF: Kevin Love — Kyle Korver — Okaro White

C: Larry Nance Jr. — Tristan Thompson — Ante Zizic

* — Player has yet to be re-signed

5-time All-Star Kevin Love, like his predecessor Chris Bosh, made the most sacrifice. He went from being the go-to player, scoring a boatload of points from all over the place, to a tertiary scorer whose points came from three-point range if nowhere else.

Why? The talent in front of him and the need to space the floor so that LeBron and 5-time All-Star Kyrie Irving, could drive to the rim with less traffic.

Kyrie, like his predecessor Dwyane Wade, was forced to adjust. He almost always was faced with a power struggle as a Cav but his first opponent was Dion Waiters, a fiery, edgy and confident combo guard. Waiters is a good player but LeBron was indisputably the best player in the game in 2014.

The tug-of-war that’s existed with Waiters would look like light work compared to getting the ball out of LeBron’s hands.

Mainstays in J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson as well as veterans like George Hill and Kyle Korver didn’t have to really adjust their games to fit beside James.

The Larry Nance Jr.’s of the world, like Thompson, simply are rim-running centers (though Nance has shown a semblance of a trustworthy midrange jumper) who had to make little adjustment besides being ready for spectacular passes.

Smith and Korver will always work best as three-point specialists though both have shown the ability to make plays for others off-the-bounce.

Hill is your typical low-usage floor general who runs the plays and, when aggressive, is solid when attacking the rim. He’s also an above-average three-point threat.

These are also the players who should make up the second unit, sans Love, as the Cavs invest in the development of their younger counterparts.

The only young player who should be in the Cavaliers’ second unit is Jordan Clarkson, as his microwave-scoring style is that of sixth man’s.

Furthermore, with Hill’s savvy experience at point guard and so many three-point threats beside him, there will be better shot-quality from Clarkson and that benefits both him and the team.

The juxtaposition between Hill and rookie point guard Collin Sexton is like water and fire. Hill is cool, smooth and relaxed. Sexton is attacking, relentlessly.

Hill’s experience, pass-first style and off-ball three-point prowess are a direct complement to Sexton’s strengths in slashing and finishing. As previously mentioned it’s also what the second unit needs, with a score-first guard in Clarkson, two three-point specialists and a strong screener and solid pick-and-roll threat in Thompson.

Of course there will lineups that intermix the units as that’s how the game typically flows. However, the diversity in the starting unit will make that a thing of beauty.

Sexton, Rodney Hood (who seems to be part of the Cavs’ plans despite not having re-signed) and Cedi Osman are three players who are “live.” They’re capable of putting the ball on the floor and scoring from all three levels.

Sexton is the player who needs to play on-ball the most as he develops his catch-and-shoot ability and may be the least likely to be paired with Clarkson, though Lue is likely to like the competitive fire both play with and try it out. Nonetheless, the Cavaliers’ perimeter playmakers, particularly in the starting lineup, are solid and have tantalizing potential.

Nance Jr. will be able to create space for the Cavs’ shooters with the gravity he provides as an elite dunker and lob-finisher. Furthermore, his ability to get steals by jumping passing lanes will benefit the team, as they’ll like to pick up the pace next season.

Further developing his ability to put the ball on the floor in the open and halfcourt could provide nearly as much of a dynamic component to the team as developing his midrange jumper and he can do both.

Love will see himself as the first option. They’ll post him up with more frequency, as he runs the elbow sets where LeBron used to make plays. He’ll continue to be an elite three-point threat.

Sexton and Hood should become the secondary and tertiary scorers but that doesn’t mean they can’t both average above 15 points per game even if Love scores between 20-25 points per game. In fact, the trio (in addition to Osman) could find themselves having statistical similar to the production the Boston Celtics’ quartet of Terry Rozier, Al Horford, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum had in the playoffs — a combined 78.7 points per game with each player contributing at least 15.0 points per game.

With that comparison not only being made but entirely plausible, is there a need to trade a player on a team with this type of potential?

Lastly, what Altman said about Love being a fine example for players that want to be in Cleveland holds weight and water. With so much chaos and insecurity surrounding the Cavaliers, Love has remained calm — at least on the surface — in the eye of the storm. That’s a warrior’s heart and a player that will imbue loyalty to this roster in ways LeBron and Kyrie didn’t.

Should Love ever leave, it’ll still be a decision that holds weight (and water) because we’ve seen him bite his tongue and keep his head down during all of the trade rumors and in turbulent times. When he’s on the bench at the end of the fourth quarter. He’s, generally, just been a true professional.

Related Story: Cavs top-30 players of all-time

He’s an example of how a player should conduct themselves in troubled times and that matters with such a young team.